Kuwait is slowly recovering from the global crisis aided by an upswing in the oil price, although

prospects for anything like a strong recovery in consumer spending remain bleak. Growth is being driven

largely by government spending.

This government spending has been first and foremost to weather the financial crisis but is also at least in

part motivated by keeping raucous critics at bay. The opposition appears to be under control for now there

remain threats to domestic political stability with a number of rebel opposition MPs prepared to disrupt

the policymaking process.

Structural security concerns remain more or less unchanged, some exacerbated by the economic situation.

Kuwait’s strong pro-US orientation risks antagonising the Shi’a population, a concern that has only

intensified in the light of the Shi’a problems Saudi Arabia is currently facing in Yemen and the undoubted

willingness of Iran to stoke them. The protest movement in Iran itself heightens these concerns as the

leadership in Tehran seeks to draw attention away from domestic problems.

There have been no further incidents like the one In August 2009 from al-Qaeda, which planned an attack

– foiled by Kuwaiti security –on a US military base south of Kuwait City. That case reached the courts

although details remain contradictory. In February 2010, six Kuwaiti citizens were accused by a Kuwaiti

secret service officer a statement apparently at odds with the public prosecutor who, when the trial opened

in December, withdrew the key conspiracy charge against them.

The country continues to faces a risk. The Bidoon of Kuwait (not the same as Bedouins), a stateless group

numbering up to 140,000. Following the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in 1991, they were

nearly all removed from positions in the military and police. They remain discriminated against and, with

a high rate of unemployment, the Bidoon are targets for al-Qaeda recruitment.

Kuwait has no significant domestic arms industry and can confidently be expected to source equipment

from abroad for the foreseeable future. Kuwait has sourced large quantities of advanced hi-tech weapons

systems from major supplier countries, including the US, the UK and France. This is largely a

consequence of Kuwait’s important geostrategic position and generally pro-Western outlook.